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An Undefeated Marshall Deserves to Play on New Year's Eve

The playoff era
in college football will kick off in Atlanta, just past noon on New Year's Eve
day, when the Peach Bowl becomes the first “New Year's Six” bowl to kick off.
If Marshall is a 13-0, Conference USA champion, they need to be in that game.

Before the season
even started, the
rumblings about Marshall's schedule began. In the non-conference, Marshall
played three MAC schools – bad ones at that – and an FCS school. Their Conference
USA foes have proven to be as uninspiring as they appeared in July. Marshall
hasn't scored less than 35 or won by less than 15 in 10 games this season.

Are they really that
good? Does it even matter at this point?

The selection
committee made it very clear with its first rankings that Marshall was not the
front-runner for the lone Group of Five slot, reserved for the best champion of
a non-Power Five league. Those initial rankings did include East Carolina, who
had a pair of wins over ACC teams and only a tight loss at SEC East contender
South Carolina. It was a no-brainer: if East
Carolina won out, they would play in the Peach Bowl.

But the Pirates
proved to be a paper champion. Those wins proved to be over mediocre ACC teams.
They have lost twice since to bowl-bound AAC teams. They are no longer part of
the discussion.

Now, observers
look to the Mountain West, which boasts a one-loss Colorado State team and a
two-loss Boise State. The Rams have the best single win, though a road victory
over a middle-of-the-road Boston College team is hardly awe-inspiring. The Rams
also lost to Boise State, which makes the Broncos the Mountain West favorite.
Unfortunately, the Broncos were annihilated by Ole Miss in their first game and
added another loss to Air Force.

In order to
maintain some semblance of a united FBS, the power conferences guaranteed one
spot a year to the non-power conferences. Someone has to play in that bowl
game. That someone needs to be Marshall.

The phrase that
pays in college football this year has been “strength of schedule” and it's all
we've heard. It has been endlessly and fruitlessly debated. The strength of a
team's schedule, due to the importance of every game for small sample size,
varies wildly from week to week. TCU's win over Minnesota has, at times, looked
great, good, bad and meaningless. Florida State's win over Notre Dame went from
proof of greatness to reason for concern. It's maddening.

Most maddening,
though, is the outsized importance of schedule strength. Yes, a team needs to
be challenged. Yes, a team should be play good teams. No, a team should not be
judged solely on its competition.

When Marshall put
together its 2014 schedule, they had no idea what the criteria would be for
inclusion in a major bowl game. Hell, there is still no concrete evidence that
we even know now what will be used as criteria for inclusion. It's all being
made up as we go along.

Just as Ohio
State and Florida State cannot be blamed for the failures of their conference brethren,
neither can Marshall. Conference USA, more so than any non-Big East conference,
has been decimated in realignment. The newly-formed American swooped in and
raided every team with value. UCF, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, Memphis, East
Carolina – they were all swiped away. It left Conference USA a shell of its
former self and it has left Marshall to beat up on a string of overmatched
opponents.

Why does Marshall
get punished?

Whether anyone
wants to admit it or not, the Thundering Herd is being punished for the sins
of the BCS.

In 2007, Hawaii
parlayed a ridiculously soft schedule into a Sugar Bowl bid, which in turn became
one of the
worst televised beatings in recent memory. I believe Colt Brennan is still
part of the Superdome turf. That Hawaii team, you may recall, escaped week
after week by the skin of their teeth against bad opponents. Marshall hasn't
done that.

In 2012, Northern
Illinois parlayed a Big Ten disaster – Ohio State on probation meant an
unranked Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl – into a BCS bowl berth because they snuck
into the Top 16 despite a loss. They played Florida State tight for three
quarters but all people really remember are the really, really bad
TV ratings.

Only last year,
Fresno State (win over Rutgers) and Northern Illinois again (win over Iowa)
were very, very close to undefeated seasons that would have guaranteed them a
BCS bowl berth. Both teams had a better win than Marshall. Both teams lost
after Thanksgiving. Before the losses, both teams endured
ridicule from a national sports media that really, really wanted to see
Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl.

I fear that the
selection committee will go out of its way to send a message to Marshall, which
is a whole lot different than sending a message to Baylor.

Baylor is a Big
12 team with a Heisman Trophy winner and a preseason playoff contender that
willingly chose to eschew any challenge in the non-conference. Flush with TV
money, Baylor will be fine. They played in the Fiesta Bowl last year. No one
will cry if Baylor misses out on a playoff spot because the Bears played Buffalo.

Marshall is a Conference
USA team that no Power Five conference team wants to play. Few will pick up the
phone when the Marshall AD calls to schedule a game. It may be years before
they trot out another Rakeem Cato as quarterback.

It's not
Marshall's fault that Conference USA sucks this year. It's not Marshall's fault
that Hawaii and Northern Illinois didn't win their BCS games. It's not
Marshall's fault no one wants to play them.

The Thundering
Herd is 10-0. They have yet to be challenged. It would be a damn shame if they
finished the year that way.

The Peach Bowl is
being played just past noon on New Year's Eve day. Of the New Year's Six this
year, it is clearly low-man on the totem pole. Let's make it fun. We know
Marshall fans will travel in droves. We know the likely SEC opponent (Ole Miss?
Georgia? Auburn?) will ensure an easy sell-out.

Comments

Its hard to imagine why you could possibly believe that "Marshall fans will travel in droves" - they don't even bother to go to HOME games - there are thousands of empty seats every home game. Also, you accurately identified why the Peach bowl wouldn't want Marshall - just like the Northern Illinois/FSU in 2012 and the 2007 Sugar Bowl, NOBODY WOULD WATCH. If Marshall couldn't even come close to covering the spread against a pathetic UAB, could ANYBODY believe they would be competitive against any bowl eligible SEC team? Anybody?

The only thing that the debate about which Group of Five team should get the major bowl slot is demonstrating is that NONE of them deserve it. None of them are anywhere close to the top 25, much less the top 12. Why waste the Peach Bowl on a game nobody will go to and nobody will watch?

There's also a very good chance that by the time New Year's Day rolls around, Doc Holiday will have received and accepted a better offer from one of the teams recognized, as you put it, as "having value" greater than that of any C-USA school. What motivation would he have to get his team ready for what everybody knows would be a trouncing?